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I'm the Canadian who was detained by ICE for two weeks

(www.theguardian.com)
1009 points n1b0m | 11 comments | 19 Mar 25 11:21 UTC | HN request time: 0.793s | source | bottom
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snapcaster ◴[19 Mar 25 12:33 UTC] No.43411015[source]▶
This is horrible and scary, why border guards are even giving the authority to revoke visas is beyond me. When people think about giving cops/guards authority like this they need to be picturing the dumbest bully from their grade school. That's who is going to be using the power
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blindriver ◴[19 Mar 25 12:49 UTC] No.43411158[source]▶
Every country is like this. Israel is the scariest but I remember decades ago crossing into Switzerland by train and in the middle of the night being woken up by border guards with barking German shepherds asking for my passport. I have so many stories it’s funny. On top of the other stories I’ve already posted, my friend who is Canadian drove into Buffalo for dinner and on his way back, they asked him where are you going. He answered “Canada” and they detained him and pulled apart his car looking for drugs. He was detained for hours until they let him go.
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1. pjc50 ◴[19 Mar 25 12:57 UTC] No.43411281[source]▶
There's a wide spectrum between being aggressive about asking for your passport and detention for weeks. While it's a slippery slope the extent to which it happens, and the extent to which prejudice is involved, varies a lot.
replies(1): >>43411417 #
2. blindriver ◴[19 Mar 25 13:09 UTC] No.43411417[source]▶
Are you suggesting that Swiss border patrol would have been more forgiving if I were illegally entering their country?
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3. wk_end ◴[19 Mar 25 15:24 UTC] No.43413253[source]▶
Well, she wasn't illegally entering the United States, so that's sort of moot.
replies(1): >>43413634 #
4. blindriver ◴[19 Mar 25 15:53 UTC] No.43413634{3}[source]▶
She was. You didn't even do a modicum of research. She co-founded a hemp drink company in California and then self-assigned her own TN visa through the company she founded, which isn't allowed. Her visa was actually illegal and then she was found upon subsequent crossing. She tried to reapply and this time she was detained.
replies(3): >>43413781 #>>43413853 #>>43421596 #
5. dowager_dan99 ◴[19 Mar 25 16:03 UTC] No.43413781{4}[source]▶
I need to determine if this is true. I had not heard of it before, and the idea she would qualify for a TN visa seemed a little thin, but the rules are so arbitrary and uneven (especially these days) who knows. Regardless this sounds like a nightmare, and to top it off is neither "DOGE-efficient" or increases US security. It's a least 4-combinations of lose-lose.
replies(1): >>43413912 #
6. wk_end ◴[19 Mar 25 16:07 UTC] No.43413853{4}[source]▶
Sorry, I’m commenting on an article and don’t feel as though I should need more research than what’s written in it. Based on her account, that’s not really accurate, and I do actually trust her (and Guardian fact-checkers) more than your anonymous claims. Feel free to give sources.

Anyway: it’s still moot. What she did, even based on your account, is not illegal.

It’s not illegal to apply for TN, period. If the application is rejected, that doesn’t make the application retroactively illegal.

It’s not even illegal for a Canadian to apply for a TN at the border crossing, have their application rejected, and keep driving right into the US. I know this because it happened to me. As Canadians don’t need work permits to enter the US, entering the country wasn’t the question - only working in it.

Unless she’d previously been given paperwork that had banned her from entry to the US - and she hadn’t been - there was nothing illegal with reapplying. She was told to reapply.

Whether she did anything “wrong” is debatable, but whether she did anything illegal isn’t.

replies(1): >>43413955 #
7. blindriver ◴[19 Mar 25 16:11 UTC] No.43413912{5}[source]▶
See my other reply, with receipts:

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43413758

replies(1): >>43414543 #
8. poulsbohemian ◴[19 Mar 25 16:15 UTC] No.43413965[source]▶
I have the best story on this - they didn't believe I wasn't Swiss, because my name is clearly Swiss and I was speaking German. My (American) passport had been amended so it took an hour and them making some calls before they were convinced I wasn't some kind of spy. Love the idea of my ancestral home not believing I wasn't one of them, even if they were quite rude about it.
9. leewr ◴[19 Mar 25 17:01 UTC] No.43414543{6}[source]▶
Hmm, I'm not an American so this is all new and pretty interesting. If you wholly or partly own a company and the company sponsors your TN, would that be OK? Or is that still 'self-sponsorship' under the regulations?
10. ◴[20 Mar 25 10:55 UTC] No.43421596{4}[source]▶
11. seec ◴[24 Mar 25 13:52 UTC] No.43461108{6}[source]▶
I was getting suspicious the more I read. When she said the guard though she was shady, I knew something definitely was up.

Guards/cops/whatever maybe be dumb sometime but they don't say this when everything is done correctly. If she had just made an honest mistake, she would have been told so and corrected. But clearly, she tried to do something that wasn't allowed or played with the lines on how things have to be done. Then she complains that she got detained for it. If you don't respect the rules, there are consequences, women tend to forget it because they get away with all kind of shit in today's society.

Also, The Guardian has a habit of obfuscating the truth (by omitting facts or orienting the narrative) to create outrage, so it doesn't surprise me at all.